His own anger was rising now. It wasn't so much the situation as his frustration at her going out with Simon on top of the fact that he was getting irritated with the continual angry tone. He was tired enough that he snapped back. "Me, why don't you date me. But you know what, you’re right, you're an adult, you can make your own decisions. I don't think we need to carpool in tomorrow. You have a good night." He brushed past her, with her shocked expression on her face as he made his way up to his room.
He was more embarrassed than anything else at the outburst. All he could do was hope neither of them remembered he'd said that in the morning, but he had a sneaking suspicion with one little outburst he had torpedoed his complete relationship with Alice. He liked being her friend, even if he wanted more and he might've just ruined that.
"Nice job, Reed. Showing the same impulse control as Kevin. Good move." He growled at himself as he looked in the master bathroom mirror.
Part of him thought he should go down and try to sweep her off her feet, but she was so angry with him he knew it would be a bad move. All he could do was give her time and apologize tomorrow. His anger needed to cool, and if he was honest with himself it was more jealousy than anger. Because he still didn't know how serious Simon and Alice were. His cousins kept saying there were signs that they were not serious at all, but he didn't know and if she was serious about Simon, he had no right to be interfering.
Taking a deep breath, he made up his mind to apologize the next day. She deserved better. He was better than Simon, but she deserved someone with the courage to ask her out in the first place, which as it turned out he didn't have. But he needed to respect her wishes and if Simon was what she wanted, despite whatever Kevin would say, Reed needed to accept that. Resolved in his plan of action, even if he didn't particularly like it, Reed went through the motions of his nightly routine and headed to bed.
Chapter 8
Morning did not find Alice well rested. After Reed's declaration that she should be dating either him or someone like him, Alice had been so shocked she just stood there for probably a minute or two. She then ran upstairs and texted Trinity that the two of them needed to meet half an hour before school at the coffee shop down the street from work. It was late and she didn't want to have to tell Trinity all of it over the phone. In person would be better. Plus, she didn't know what to make of any of this.
Being honest with herself, she had been hating her date with Simon; he was full of himself. Most of his stories, if they weren’t directly about him in some way were inadvertently shining him in a fantastic light. He did a lot of the talking and when he did ask Alice a question he did not appear to be listening to her response. She had already decided before Kevin doused beer all over Simon that one date would be enough to know for sure she didn't want anymore.
But then Kevin had gone out of his way to douse Simon completely in beer. She’d been relieved that the date would be cut short. But then she'd seen the satisfied smile on Kevin's face and anger flashed through her. Whether or not Kevin meant that exact thing to happen he was clearly hoping for trouble and then she'd seen Reed standing right there beside them.
Her mind had gone crazy with ideas. The two of them happened to show up where her date was, after she told Reed she had a date. That seemed too unlikely to be a coincidence. Alice couldn’t even give them the benefit of the doubt. Their intentionally setting out to ruin her date hurt her feelings. She knew they didn't like Simon and Simon didn't like them, but she felt her being in the equation should've counted for something. It hurt that it hadn't.
Then Reed made this declaration out of nowhere that she deserved better than Simon, convincing her further they’d purposely messed with the date but then he propped himself up as an example. Alice didn't know what to do with that.
Suffice to say all those thoughts swirling around in her brain prevented her from getting a restful sleep. She had to put on extra makeup in the morning to make herself look better than the zombie she felt like. When she walked into the coffee shop, she found Trinity already sitting at a table with two large coffee cups. Not for the first time she was grateful for her best friend.
Trinity looked up at her with a smile, then frowned when she got a good look at Alice’s face. Once Alice was seated at the table, Trinity leaned in as if inspecting every minute detail of her face. "What the hell happened on your date last night?"
Alice took a deep breath and dove in from start to finish in a stage whisper, concluding with Reed storming up to his bedroom, never stopping for breath.
Bless her heart, Trinity didn’t say a word but by the time Alice finished her mouth was open in surprise.
"Whoa! Okay, let's unpack that one piece at a time, shall we? Everybody knew you wouldn’t like Simon, so the date not going well is not a surprise. Reed and the McAllisters showing up and making your date cut out early is a surprise. If we were in high school, I would believe Kevin hunting down Simon just to do something like that. Even though they were upperclassmen I knew the rivalry well enough to steer clear of both of them in public. And in private really." Trinity took a long sip of her beverage before setting it down again and maintaining eye contact. "All right, everything else is out of the way. I'm fairly certain Reed is more than interested in you in a casual way."
The look on her friend’s face told Alice that Trinity didn’t expect her to be surprised by that revelation but she was. She was startled at her friend’s words and she was sure she blinked as she tilted her head back. "What? I am sure he volunteered himself as an off-handed comment…" She trailed off as she thought about it. The more she thought about it the deeper she frowned.
Was Trinity right? He was letting her stay with him for a week, which was a huge gesture. They had crashed her date. He volunteered himself as someone who would be better to date than Simon. When she looked back at Trinity, her eyes were as wide as her friend’s had been when she had been relaying the story of last night’s events.
"Oh my gosh, I think you're right."
Trinity barked out a laugh, setting both hands flat on the table as she leaned forward. "Oh, your face! You look so frightened. This is amazing." She schooled herself and sat back up, grabbing Alice’s hands in her own as she did so. "This is a good thing, Alice. The guy you’ve had a crush on since high school actually has feelings for you. This is fantastic! Granted, I don't think he knew what Kevin had planned, but still the whole watching your date thing is a little creepy … but other than that this is good." Trinity was beaming at her.
Alice couldn't help the shock that ran through her. Immediately following it, a wave of excitement tingled through her; the flame she had been holding for Reed all this time might be reciprocated! That was huge.
"But why wouldn't he say anything? I mean I'm right there, we’re in the same house." Then the frown replaced the excitement she felt.
If he really did like her, why wasn’t he doing anything about it?
As if summoned by magic, she and Trinity turned as the bell on the door rang for the millionth time and Reed himself walked into the coffee shop. Both of them were quiet as they saw him come in, with dark sunglasses and wrapped up in a winter coat. Initially, he went to stand in the line ordering coffee, as it was early enough everyone was out getting their caffeine fix. When he saw them his mouth thinned, and he got out of line and walked toward them.
At first Alice thought he’d join them at the table and her heart sped up. But, with his hand still in his pockets, he nodded to Trinity and looked at Alice, never taking off his glasses. "I wanted to apologize for last night. I don't remember a lot of it, but I do remember Kevin causing a bit of a scene at the bowling alley and me not doing anything about it. I’m sorry if that ruined your date. That was never my intention. I had no idea Kevin was going to do something like that and I wanted to apologize for both of us. You and I are friends and that kind of thing shouldn't happen between friends. Take all of the time you want to be mad at me and Kevin.” He waited a beat and gave a tightlipped
smile before going to stand in line again.
Alice sat in silence watching him a moment but once he was in line, he turned toward the board as if his walking over to them never happened.
"That man is hungover. How much alcohol did he have last night?" Trinity asked in disbelief, clearly looking in the same direction as Alice.
"I have no idea. Do you think he even remembers our argument at the end of the night? You think he remembers putting himself forward as a better alternative to Simon?" Alice asked, disheartened. While she appreciated his apology, the fact that he might've been rambling last night and not been as sober as she thought lessened the excitement she had been feeling a few moments earlier.
"Oh, no you don't. Don't go talking yourself out of this." Trinity thumped her palm on the table to get Alice's attention again.
When Alice turned toward her friend the woman was looking Alice in the eye and shaking one finger at her. "I am still positive the man has feelings for you. He is probably as shy about it as you are about your feelings for him. No, I am not standing by while nothing happens any longer; this requires you to be proactive." While the strength and authority in Trinity's voice was hard steel, she spoke barely above a whisper, as if she was afraid anyone around them would hear. The coffee shop wasn't large. If she spoke any louder than her regular voice, Reed would've heard her for sure.
"What are you talking about?" Alice hissed, looking around the room to make sure nobody had heard her friend.
Trinity grabbed her mug and stood up, grabbing her jacket off the back of the chair she had been sitting in as well as her purse. Alice followed suit; once the two of them were outside and walking towards the school it was only then that Trinity answered.
"This requires a big romantic gesture. You need to show him and tell him how you feel. You have to make the first move here. I am convinced this is the best thing to do." The determination in her voice made it sound like Alice didn't have much of a choice.
Nervousness shot through her; while the prospect did hold some appeal, being assertive was not something Alice liked to do. She preferred to go with the flow and take opportunities when they presented themselves. But not in her love life. She was never the assertive one in her love life. The idea of doing so with the guy she’d had a crush on for years was mortifying. All sorts of bad scenarios flashed through her mind in an instant.
"Are you sure that's a good idea, Trin? That sounds like a disaster waiting to happen."
"No, it’s a good idea and it will get this out of your system once and for all. Either you two will go out or it'll be so awkward the two of you will not speak to each other for a while. We'll take a couple days to plan it. We’ll set it up for Friday. Friday is the perfect evening because you're moving Sunday and then you won't have to worry about awkwardly seeing each other around the house. This is happening, Alice, and I'm helping you with it. It's time for us to see if you and Reed could have something together." Her friend’s grin was ear to ear as if this was the best idea she’d ever had.
Alice would be lying if she said she wasn't excited. The prospect that maybe Reed felt about her the same way she felt about him was intoxicating. But she didn't know if it was because he had been drinking that he pulled his own name forward or whether it was how he truly felt. Or whether he’d simply thrown his own name out there because he couldn't think of anything else. She knew however, Trinity, was right. Unless she confronted how she felt for Reed she probably wouldn't go on any dates worth her while. So, the two of them began planning how best to set up the conversation with Reed.
~~
Friday rolled around much faster than Alice thought possible. But she had gone ahead as she and Trinity discussed on Monday. Alice and Reed tiptoed around each other most of the week, strained but cordially friendly. Since Alice was so nervous about Friday, this suited her fine. She texted him from work Friday morning, and let him know she would be in charge of dinner for both of them tonight. She went out on a limb assuming he didn't already have a date. She hadn't even thought he might have dinner plans until she'd sent the text and her heart hammered as thoughts of how she was going to rearrange things to still make it work if he did have plans. As she set up for class and checked her phone, she was relieved to see the text response that said, ‘Okay, great.’ She bounded through the day with a new enthusiasm, filled with nervousness, trepidation, and excitement for what could come. If she played her cards right tonight, this awkwardness she and Reed had been experiencing all week might go away completely. The two of them could go forward and test the waters to see if they would make as good of a couple as she thought they would.
Doubt-plagued thoughts ran through her head all day. What if she was putting too much emphasis on this dinner? What if they’d misinterpreted everything and Reed really wasn't interested? By lunch time, Alice had to force herself to stop thinking about it because she was driving herself insane and even forbade Trinity from talking about it when they had lunch.
She beat him home, like she had most of this week. The newspaper was putting things together and that took up a lot of his time, so she busied herself getting the small kitchen table ready to look like a more romantic setting. She also put in a carryout order to the only Italian restaurant in Bunny Ridge. By the time she picked up the food and came back it was a little after five and Alice was surprised Reed wasn't home yet. But she didn't think anything of it because she had told him dinner would be by 5:30 and he knew she was doing something for it. He only lived about twelve minutes from the school so there was still time for him to get there. She busied herself setting everything up food-wise and making sure it didn't get cold.
Five-thirty rolled around, and he still hadn’t shown. Now she was getting annoyed. Had he stood her up? This was worse, they were staying in the same house, at least through tomorrow. It wasn't as if he could go anywhere else. Angry, she started chewing on the bread and stacking it absently while she sat at the table. She waited, not a long time as the food was definitely starting to cool, but by about a quarter to six she was angry and agitated enough that she called him.
He didn't pick up the phone, which only increased her ire. Not only was he avoiding her, when he knew she was preparing a dinner for both of them, but now he was avoiding her phone calls. Who did that? Irritation flowed through her in waves and she waited until she heard the beep and left a message.
"I don't know what you're doing, Reed. I don't know whether there was an emergency at school or what. I'm hoping there was an emergency at school because we had dinner plans at 5:30 and you're not home. I know you're not home because I've checked upstairs. I hope you show up soon or give me a call back because, I don't know, common courtesy."
She decided she wasn't going to eat cold Italian simply because Reed couldn’t bother to be on time.
As she began to eat, she texted Trinity; her best friend would share in her outrage and maybe even surpass analysis to the point where it would be comical. Trinity was good at that.
Much to Alice's surprise within two minutes of her shooting off that text her friend texted three words, 'On my way.' There was no reason for Trinity to come sit with her simply because her childhood crush stood her up. Especially because Trinity had her own husband and young child at home. She sent a message to her friend saying as much but got no response. Frowning, Alice began eating in earnest knowing her friend would explain whatever it was she was coming all the way over here for when she got here.
For all she knew, Josiah, who was a sheriff's deputy was working and Trinity found herself bored. That happened on occasion and was the reason the two of them hung out at weird hours.
Ten minutes later there was a loud, hard knock at the door. Alice couldn't help her frown as she walked over and saw Trinity through the peephole. Frowning deeply, she was holding her daughter in a carrier.
As she opened the door Alice became filled with dread. Trinity didn't frown like that often or lightly.
As the door opened, Trinity brushed inside
and closed the door behind her.
She watched as her friend put the carrier down softly next to the couch and turned to Alice with a stricken look on her face. Before Alice knew what was happening, Trinity had launched herself at Alice and was embracing her in a hug. Alice was caught off guard for a beat before she wrapped her own arms around her friend.
"This is terrible; I don't know what they're going to do." Trinity's voice was muffled by Alice’s hair.
Her words prompted the dread that dropped into the pit of Alice's stomach to stretch. Those were not words someone said when their friend was stood up for dinner. There was no ‘they’ involved in that scenario. Alice let go of her friend and put her at arm’s length so she could look at her face.
"Trinity, what are you talking about?"
Her friend’s eyes widened and scanned Alice as if looking for some kind of understanding. "You don't know? He didn't tell you. Of course he didn’t tell you. He's not thinking. Oh, wow." Understanding dawned on her friend like a light bulb going off. "You think he stood you up, oh Alice." Trinity dropped her hand from one of Alice's and put it over her mouth. "Alice, Reed didn't stand you up. The McAllisters got word at about 3:30 today that the oldest brother, Matthew, was shot in the line of duty. He is in the hospital and all of the brothers, Reed, the aunts, the McAllister parents, all caravanned over there as soon as they heard. Today was supposed to be Josiah’s evening off, but he got called in to cover Sherriff McAllister, understandably."
Trinity’s words sunk in and Alice felt her anger fade, washed away by guilt, then sympathetic agony for Reed and his family. Matthew, the oldest of five boys, was a police officer somewhere near Seattle. He was Reed's cousin and to Reed, his cousins were like siblings. The hell they were going through was more than Alice could imagine.
No wonder he hadn’t reached out to her; his mind wasn't on dinner, or her but solely focused on his family.
Lantern Lake Winter Collection: Books 1-3 Page 22